Marketing Tactics

SAN MATEO, Calif. — Sam's Club has engaged the services of DemandTec to enhance its eValues program.

Sam's Club said it will use DemandTec's Deal Management service to streamline the collaborative presentation, negotiation, reconciliation, and archiving of member offers and supporting supplier funds for the eValues program.  

DemandTec is working in conjunction with FICO, provider of the eValues program, to integrate Deal Management, streamline the process, and deliver highly targeted, timely offers to members of Sam's Club.  

NEW YORK — Members-only luxury retailer Gilt Groupe announced that it is launching a new standalone website for men. According to the company, Park & Bond (www.parkandbond.com) merges a curated selection of the world's best brands with a continuously updated mix of editorial content designed to give guys the inspiration and advice they need to look their best.

Strength in the apparel category continued at Target during July, with same-store sales increasing just below the company average of 4.1%, positioning the company as a winner in a month where performance among competitors was uneven.

The nation’s retailers can hope back-to-school shoppers haven’t been paying attention to the steady dose of dire economic news facing the nation the past week, but that’s pretty unlikely considering this is the information age.

Target produced another month of solid same-store sales growth in July and had a lot of good things to say about its future prospects. But judging from the action in the company’s share price in the intervening days, it was as if second-quarter earnings per share had come in well short of analysts’ expectations. Target got caught up in the selling free-for-all that occurred on Friday when it appeared the United States was in for a credit rating downgrade followed by a further acceleration on Monday after the downgrade occurred.

New York City -- Marketers attempting to understand consumer habits that influence mobile marketing can get a revealing glimpse into the mindset of the mobile consumer through the newly released 2011 Mobile Consumer Report from Experian Simmons, a part of Experian Marketing Services.

Myrtle Beach. Fla. -- CBL & Associates Properties recently selected The Brandon Agency to provide media planning and buying services for 75 malls and shopping centers in 25 states.

The scope of services the agency will provide CBL includes guerilla advertising, Facebook pay-per-click, media planning, media buying, and media placement in print, broadcast, cable, radio and internet media outlets.
 

Reston, Va. -- Online U.S. retail spending in second quarter 2011 reached $37.5 billion for the quarter, up 14% versus year ago, comScore reported Monday. This growth rate represented the seventh consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates.

It seems like everybody wants to get in the outlet business these days. In particular, there are a growing number of “traditional mall” developers that seem to be seriously considering -- or in some cases, actively pursuing -- the development of outlet centers or the conversion of existing traditional mall assets into outlets. On the heels of Gap’s announcement to close 200 of their full-price stores by 2013 and concentrate on expanding their Gap outlets and Banana Republic Factory Stores, I understand why developers are seriously thinking about outlet centers.

Oakbrook, Ill. -- McDonald's Corp. said Monday that its global same-store sales climbed 5.1% in July, buoyed by ongoing strength abroad and sales of its McCafe beverage and staples such as Chicken McNuggets.

By segment, same-store sales rose 5.3% in Europe. The Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa experienced a 4% gain, while the United States posted a 4.4% increase.

Last month McDonald's reported a 15% increase in second-quarter net income as it continued to entice customers to buy new menu items.